Chapter 26 — Kiss the person beside you
Inside the KTV room, Yu Fan sat on the couch with a frosty face, staring at Jay Chou’s face on the TV while replaying what just happened. He definitely moved too slow because of the alcohol. Otherwise he would have shoved Chen Jingshen’s hand away before it touched him.
Because Wang Lu’an booked late, all he got was a medium room. Everyone on the couch was squeezed shoulder to shoulder, with five or six boys standing as human hype machines. The girl on Yu Fan’s left wore a short skirt, so to avoid bumping her he could only lean the other way.
After his back hit the thing behind him for the umpteenth time, Yu Fan lost patience and jabbed the person next to him with his elbow. “Why did you bring a backpack?”
“I swung by the library,” Chen Jingshen said. He lifted the bag onto his knees and held it with one arm. “Is this better?”
“…”
Yu Fan lifted the bag with one hand and set it on the shelf behind the couch. Then he sat up straight again and continued staring at Jay Chou.
Wang Lu’an lost another round of dice, cursed, tossed back his drink, then twisted around. “Top student, welcome, welcome. What do you like to sing? I’ll pick it for you.”
“No need.” Chen Jingshen took something from his bag and handed it over. “Happy birthday.”
“Damn, you even brought a gift? Thanks, top stu… what is this?”
“Problem sets,” Chen Jingshen said, leaning back. “Finish the ones I listed before, then move on to these.”
Yu Fan: “…”
Wang Lu’an: “……Thank you. I love it.”
The door opened and another girl came in. Seeing the jam-packed couch, she hesitated by the door. Wang Lu’an jumped up to direct traffic. “You over there, scoot toward the song machine. Make room for my bestie.”
Holding a glass, Zuo Kuan got shoved around and grumbled, “How many people did you invite?”
“I thought I’d get a big room,” Wang Lu’an chuckled.
One of the girls on the couch glanced at the person beside her. Yu Fan was looking down at his phone. There was still a sliver of space between them. The lights skimmed over his cool, lazy features now and then, which made her heart race. She could not help whispering, “You can sit a little closer. There’s space.”
Yu Fan shook his head. “No, I don’t…”
“Top student, can you scoot closer to Yu Fan?” Wang Lu’an called from the other end.
“Mm.”
With a deep thump against the cushions, Yu Fan felt Chen Jingshen press lightly into his side. He abruptly fell silent.
“Huh?” the girl blinked.
Yu Fan squeezed his phone and finished stiffly, “No need. Not crowded.”
He tried to move his legs and literally had nowhere to go, which left him plastered to Chen Jingshen, rigid as a board.
“Here, top student, I have to toast you,” Wang Lu’an said. “Thank you for your tireless guidance and unwavering loyalty these days… Wait, can you drink? I can pour watermelon juice instead.”
“I can.”
Not wanting to kill the birthday mood, Chen Jingshen took a clean glass from the table, clinked it lightly, and tipped it back.
“Tsk.” From afar, Zhang Xianjing propped her chin and murmured, “How is even the way he drinks alcohol so handsome?”
Zuo Kuan’s ears were sharp. “Handsome where?”
“His neck and Adam’s apple. I could explain but you still wouldn’t get it.”
“…”
F*** this.
Wang Lu’an had not expected him to chug. Eyes wide, he slung an arm over Chen Jingshen’s shoulder. “Nice one, top student. After this drink we’re real brothers. At school, I’ve got your back. If anything happens, find me and Yu Fan—”
“Leave me out of it,” said the other man coldly.
“You’re listening? I thought you were glued to your phone.”
“I can hear you even if I'm next door,” Yu Fan said without looking up.
“Wang Lu’an, are we playing or not?” Zuo Kuan snapped, shaking the dice cup. The guys who were playing earlier had all truced out, and Zhang Xianjing was clutching the mic waiting for her song. Now it was down to the two of them for a final duel.
“Play, play. I’m drinking you under the table tonight. Come on!”
“Hang on,” Zuo Kuan said. “Just the two of us is boring. Pull a few more in.”
“There’s no one left.”
“What about those guys by the screen? Grab one.”
“This couch is full.”
“Swap with someone who isn’t playing.” Zuo Kuan’s gaze drifted straight to Chen Jingshen. “Top student, do you play dice? If not, trade seats with my friend. It’ll be easier to play.”
Wang Lu’an figured that made sense. This side of the room was mostly the school’s troublemakers. Chen Jingshen might not be comfortable here. “Top student, maybe you—”
He turned and choked on his words.
Chen Jingshen had hooked a spare dice cup from the table, weighed it in his palm, and lifted his eyes. “I’ll play. How do you play?”
“Top student, don’t,” Zhang Xianjing urged. “They’re veterans. You won’t win.”
“Hey now, don’t kill his gamer spirit,” Zuo Kuan said, eyes gleaming. “How about this. I’ve got a dare deck. If you lose, you can choose between drinking or a dare. Deal?”
He tossed a deck onto the table.
Chen Jingshen did not even look at it. “Deal.”
About the game they're playing, click/press to expand
They're playing Liar’s Dice: a classic bluffing and probability game that's super popular at drinking parties in places like China, (where it's often called "吹牛" or chui niu, literally “blow cow,” slang for bluffing)..
Basic rules (the version they seem to be playing):
1.Each player has 5 dice, hidden under a cup.
2.Players take turns bidding on how many dice of a certain number are on the table total (e.g., "Five fours" means “I believe there are at least five dice showing 4 among all players”).
3.Each new bid must be higher (either more dice or a higher number).
4.A player can challenge ("open!") if they think the last person was bluffing.
5.Everyone lifts their cups. If the last bidder was bluffing, they drink (or take a dare). If not, the challenger drinks.
Yu Fan was in a pitched battle with the biggest snake on the screen when a crack landed on the table beside him. His hand jerked and his snake got eaten. Scowling, he looked up just as Zuo Kuan slammed the cup down and grinned at him. “Hahaha! Leopard! Drink!”
Yu Fan drew his brows together, ready to ask who the hell he was mouthing off to, when the person beside him reached for a full glass.
Wang Lu’an could not stand it. “Top student, you sure you can keep drinking? Pick a dare instead. I’ve played with that deck, nothing too humiliating. Worst case, you sneak into the next room, requestknown for its soaring high notes,especially one near the end
that almost no one can hit unless they’re a trained singer.
It’s like daring someone to hit a Mariah Carey whistle note ‘Tibetan Plateau
Zhang Xianjing: “…”
“It’s fine.” Under the dim lights, Chen Jingshen’s face looked steady. If he had not bumped Yu Fan’s shoulder three times during the pour, Yu Fan would not have noticed anything wrong.
“Good. Bold,” Zuo Kuan said. “Again?”
“I’m out,” Wang Lu’an said immediately.
“I’ll keep playing,” Chen Jingshen said.
And somehow the table turned into a two-man match between Chen Jingshen and Zuo Kuan.
Yu Fan put down his phone and watched Chen Jingshen shake.
Fingers curled around the cup, Chen Jingshen rattled it lazily and lifted it. Good grief. Five dice, all different. Not a single match.
Right. With luck like that, losing all night would be normal.
“Five fours,” Chen Jingshen said.
Yu Fan: “?”
Do you even have a four?
Before Yu Fan recovered, Chen Jingshen had already picked up his glass and drank.
Next round, Chen Jingshen rolled triple sixes.
Okay, Yu Fan thought. Now push him. Call it high.
“Six sixes,” Zuo Kuan barked.
“Open,” said Chen Jingshen.
“???”
After a few rounds, Yu Fan understood. Chen Jingshen was not unlucky. He was just a clueless noob.
Normally when they met a noob at a table, the choices were do not play or go easy. But Chen Jingshen kept going, glass after glass, never stopping.
Feeling the stare, Chen Jingshen glanced down at his cup and said casually, “Four ones.”
“Open!” Zuo Kuan whooped. “I don’t have any! Drink!”
Chen Jingshen drained the glass and then ducked his head, coughing twice.
“Again?”
“Yeah.”
He had barely shaken when the cup was snatched away. The warm press of a shoulder edged closer to him.
Thump.
Half draped across the table, Yu Fan capped the cup. Face blank, he stared at Zuo Kuan. “You like playing? Play me.”
“Pass. I want the top student,” Zuo Kuan said.
“Then just say you’re scared,” Zhang Xianjing drawled, crossing her legs. “You don’t dare shake against Yu Fan.”
“Bullsh**!” Zuo Kuan frowned. “I was about to drink your top student under the table. What is the point of switching now?”
“Then no one f***ing plays—”
“I’ll drink,” Chen Jingshen said suddenly.
Everyone looked over.
“If he loses, I drink,” he said evenly. “That work?”
“Do it!” Zuo Kuan shoved up his sleeves and stood. “I’m dropping someone from Class 7 tonight if it kills me—”
Ten minutes later.
Zuo Kuan clutched his stomach, ready to puke. Yu Fan lifted the cup to reveal the dice.
“Nice,” Wang Lu’an crowed, rushing in to top off Zuo Kuan’s glass. “Congratulations, one more for our valued guest!”
Through the ten-minute blitz, Yu Fan had not lost once. Zuo Kuan was a lightweight at drinking games. His face always gave his dice away. Only a newbie like Chen Jingshen would have been dragged by him.
While Zuo Kuan choked down another drink, Yu Fan could not help glancing at the newbie. The newbie had been watching him the whole time.
Chen Jingshen lounged back on the couch, features tucked into shadow. His eyes were dark and unfocused from the alcohol, fixed on one point. He watched, but did not speak.
Maybe the booze really had hit him, Yu Fan thought.
Bang. Zuo Kuan slammed the empty glass down, wiped his mouth. “Come on! Again!”
Yu Fan turned back to the dice.
Not wanting to witness this bloodbath, Wang Lu’an had gone to sing. Zhang Xianjing had smoothly slid into the spot by Chen Jingshen. With the guys focused on the match, she edged closer and softened her voice. “Top student, if you feel awful, we can slip out—”
Before she finished, Chen Jingshen had already inched away and said briskly, “Thank you. No.”
Zuo Kuan peeked at his dice, grinned, covered them, and shouted, “Six ones!”
Yu Fan lifted his cup. He had rolled garbage, a straight, which counted as zero. One look at Zuo Kuan’s smug face and he did not need to guess: those were triple ones. If Yu Fan opened, he would lose. If he raised, Zuo Kuan would open and he would still lose.
“Call,” Yu Fan said, gambling.
Sure enough, Zuo Kuan did not think twice. “Open!”
Loss, whatever. Yu Fan reached for the glass.
Just as it touched his lip, someone caught his wrist.
Chen Jingshen sat up. “I’ll drink.”
Zuo Kuan blinked and finally remembered. “Right. We said if you lose, the top student drinks. No backing out. Also, top student, stand-ins drink two. Since you shook for him, that means two, right?”
“Okay,” Chen Jingshen said.
He bumped into Yu Fan four or five times trying to grab the glass. Before he could, someone yanked his shirt.
“Don’t drink. Pick a dare.”
Yu Fan fisted the hem of his shirt. “Look at you. You can’t drink. Take the dare.”
Chen Jingshen: “…”
Zuo Kuan: “?”
“You can even do that—”
“Of course,” Wang Lu’an said, abandoning his song to tear open the deck. He fanned the cards on the table. “Top student, pick one.”
Chen Jingshen was quiet for several seconds. Then he reached out. A fingertip flicked and he turned over the card nearest his hand.
A pouty little cartoon stared up from the glossy surface. Below it, one line of text:
“Kiss the person beside you.”
The room went silent like Hu Pang himself had walked in.
F***.
A heartbeat later, almost every gaze swivelled in unison to Chen Jingshen and the person next to him, Zhang Xianjing.
Zuo Kuan went gray. He had no idea why he had held out this long.
Zhang Xianjing’s heart took off. Heaven is helping me. After a kiss like this there is no way he will not tutor me through midterms, and then maybe we will date, and and and—
Yu Fan thought—
He did not have time to think sh**.
In front of everyone, Chen Jingshen loosened his fingers and set the card neatly on the table. He leaned back. His Adam’s apple bobbed once. Then, heavy and quiet, he turned his head toward the person sitting beside him.
Yu Fan: “?”
Try looking at me again. I f***ing dare you.
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